Don’t Stop Walking

Posted on September 28, 2016 by Ancient Seeker

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I found every single successful person I’ve ever spoken to had a turning point. The turning point was when they made a clear, specific unequivocal decision that they were not going to live like this anymore. They were going to achieve success. Brian Tracy

I want to grow. I want to be better. You grow. We all grow. We’re made to grow. You either evolve or you disappear. Tupac Shakur

There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered. Nelson Mandela

Good things are coming down the road. Just don’t stop walking. Robert Warren Painter, Jr.

Those things that challenge the worst in us tend to strengthen the best in us. Richelle E. Goodrich

It’s our challenges and obstacles that give us layers of depth and make us interesting. Are they fun when they happen? No. But they are what make us unique. Ellen DeGeneres

Although I’m a big proponent of formal meditation – for the discipline, joy, and calm it brings – I’m moving into an even greater phase of being fully present all the time. It’s a heightened state of being that lets whatever you’re doing be your best life, from moment to astonishing moment. Oprah Winfrey

Growing Into Your Potential

Posted on August 4, 2016 by Ancient Seeker

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Whatever makes you uncomfortable is your biggest opportunity for growth. Bryant McGill

Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you’re climbing it. Andy Rooney

If it’s challenging you, testing you, and pushing you, it’s helping you become more of who you’re meant to be. Mandy Hale

We are not trapped or locked up in these bones. No, no. We are free to change. And love changes us. And if we can love one another, we can break open the sky. Walter Mosely

Often, it’s not about becoming a new person, but becoming the person you were meant to be and already are, but don’t know how to be. Heath L. Buckmaster

Growth demands a temporary surrender of security. Gail Sheehy

You will either step forward into growth or you will step backward into safety. Abraham Maslow

Spiritual growth is like learning to walk. We stand up, fall, stand up, fall, take a step, fall, take a couple of steps, fall, walk a little better, wobble a bit, fall, run, and finally, eventually fly. Geri Larkin

Growth Periods

Posted on August 4, 2016 by Ancient Seeker

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Everything happens for a reason. It may be better to call crises “growth periods” because, when we get through them, we will surely have learned something about ourselves, our relationships with others and to the Universe. Deepak Chopra, in his Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, states that every single problem in life is the seed for an opportunity for some greater benefit.

Looking back, I can see the lessons. I can see the growth. Sometimes, looking forward, all I can see are circumstances that will cause me to experience extreme anxiety. Is it possible that I manifest in my life that which I fear the most?

Part of a poem by Henry Van Dyke reminds me that, despite all signs to the contrary, I am in control of my future:

We build our future, thought by thought

For good or ill, we know not

Thought is another name for fate

Choose then thy destiny and wait

The more quickly we learn the lesson of our present “growth period,” the sooner we will move on to our next stage of evolution. The trick is to discover what the lesson is. Catastrophic losses of health, wealth, and loved ones are external phenomena that can point to something within that needs to be explored. Perhaps your life needs to change.

We always have the opportunity to change, but don’t for whatever reason. So life takes matters into its own hands. It can stop us cold and say, “Will you look at me now or do you need something more drastic?” It will keep trying to get our attention until we take the time to complete this point in our schooling and graduate to the next level.

What will it take for you? The loss of everything in a fire or earthquake, the abandonment of friends and family, financial destitution, cancer, loss of physical mobility? Some people go through intense trauma and still don’t advance to a higher potential. The Universe is patient. It has time for you to stay in that class for eons if that is your desire.

Each and every one of us has a cross to bear. What looks good on paper or on smiling faces or inside of a gleaming Mercedes-Benz or silk dresses or three-piece suits does not always express the true story within. Many have material things and great health, but are not balanced spiritually. They aren’t in tune with their inner selves. Each of us has personalized learning lessons, some of which can be experienced with material success and health and others without.

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Growing Through Loss

Posted on January 26, 2016 by Ancient Seeker

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Three years ago, I lost my mom. She lived a long life, but I didn’t have all of her for fourteen years prior to her passing because of Alzheimer’s Disease. Before that, I lost my sister, my dog, and my dad. I actually lost my sister many years before she died because she was on drugs and was administered shock treatments in the state mental hospital, which was where they put and how they treated drug users back in the day. Afterwards, she lost her mind and my sister, the first person that I knew really, truly loved me, became and died as one of the crazy-looking people on the street you try to avoid. Before that, I lost my aunt and uncle who were like my grandparents. My real grandfathers died before I was born and my grandmothers passed before I was 12.

When I was in high school, a friend was shot and killed. Throughout the years, I’ve been through many funerals of neighbors, relatives, associates, and siblings and parents of friends. My elementary school music teacher passed two weeks ago. Beyond death and tragedy, people who I thought would always be in my life chose to end our relationship. I’ve lost jobs, a car, homes that I loved, income, status, my youthful idealism. At times, I’ve lost myself.

One of my closest friends has had life-threatening health issues for some time. We have been through so much together, some really crazy, fun times and the painful growth periods that most people go through. She knows the inside of me, how and why I think. She’s my sister from another mother. It’s been very challenging trying to deal with what’s going on with her, especially since we live in different states. The very selfish thought of potential loss to me is unbearable. If I allow myself to think of it, I lose my ability to breathe and have to immediately distract myself.

If she is no longer physically in my life, what will I have? Who will know me like she knows me? We are supposed to sit on a balcony in our old age, overlooking an ocean, talking about all the stuff we did in our lives, all of the dramas we got through. With whom will I share the stories that only we know?

But why even think this way? God only knows when her or my time will come.